Where's McCain's Big Speech On Hostility and Faith?

by Steve Soto

AP photo of Senator Obama during his speech today

Even though I don't consider myself to be an Obama supporter by any stretch, yet will fully support and work to get him elected should he get the nomination, I flatly resent the need for Obama to give a speech on race and politics today. Without getting into the weeds on the issue of how Obama and Hillary have used race and gender in this campaign, we now see Obama feeling that he has to give a major speech today on race and politics, and according to the chattering class this is something he has to do as a make or break moment in his campaign. Really?

There are three reasons why Barack Obama is giving this speech today:

1. His poll numbers are reflecting some damage from Pastor Wright's comments and association with Obama;
2. Obama's name and race; and
3. He isn't John McCain.

McCain and the GOP know that white swing voters will be looking for reasons to vote against Obama in November, so the Pastor Wright issue will be played to the hilt by the Mighty Wurlitzer. Yet John McCain has pandered to and sought the overt support of several white evangelical preachers in this campaign, preachers who similarly express hostility towards segments of our society, and yet no one is demanding that John McCain give a major speech on race, faith, and politics today. Why is McCain given a free pass on who his spiritual supporters are, and Obama isn't?

Simply put, the GOP and its vast friends in the corporate media would rather have Obama pinned down defending himself on race and politics today, rather than making the GOP repeatedly defend their willingness to bail out Wall Street and not homeowners with taxpayer-financed borrowing. They would rather pin Obama down for as many news cycles as possible on race and the back-and-forth with Hillary, instead of having the Democrats pound away at McCain and Bush for the next several months on the widespread economic anxiety gripping this country. And they definitely would rather the country pay more attention to Democratic problems than have any more news cycles dedicated to Iraq.

So Obama has to go out today and give a high-wire speech on race and politics, as if he is the only candidate with objectionable supporters.

Update: Great speech Senator. Well done.